Thought for today:
“A rabbit’s foot may be lucky; but the original owner wasn’t.”
Anonymous
Tuesday, January 16, 2018
Monday, January 15, 2018
PRAYER AS LISTENING
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 2nd Monday in
Ordinary Time is, “Prayer as Listening.”
People who want a deeper - wider - higher - richer -
better - prayer life - soon find out prayer is difficult.
People who take time to pray soon find out they are poor
- when it comes to trying to pray.
They realize they are distracted. They realize they look
at their watch. They realize they stop praying. They realize prayer can be the
pits.
LISTENING
If we see “Prayer as listening” - the title of my homily
- we can get a glimpse at what is happening to us when it comes to prayer.
Start with listening to each other. It’s a good education principle to go from
the known to the unknown.
It’s difficult listening to people right in front of us -
our kids, our spouse, our parents, our friends, those we work with.
Listening is difficult.
We don’t look another in the eye. We look at our watch.
We judge the other - thinking inwardly, “Oh no not again. I heard this story,
this speech, this complaint, over and over again.”
Another speaks. They tell a story about their grandkid or
their vacation to Disneyworld. It triggers our vacations and our grandkids
going to Salisbury University or Stanford or AACC - Anne Arundel Community
College - and at their first breath - we see an opening and out comes our
story.
Listening is difficult.
Now if it’s difficult to listen to another whom we can
see visibly - how much more difficult it is to listen to God who is invisible?
That message, that learning, that reality is said loud
and clear in the First Letter of John - who uses it in terms of love. In
Chapter 4: 20 we can read, “Those who say, ‘I love God,’ and hate their
brothers and sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister
whom they have seen, cannot love God
whom they have not seen.”
So if we can’t listen to others, or if we find it
difficult to listen to another, how much more difficult it is to listen to God?
Listening is difficult.
Prayer is difficult.
TODAY’S FIRST
READING
Today’s First Reading from the first Book of Samuel
continues the theme we heard in yesterday’s first reading from Samuel. It’s all
about listening.
Prayer is all about saying to God. “Speak, Lord, for your
servant is listening.”
What a great way to begin any time of prayer, when you
come here for Mass or you go to the Eucharistic Chapel - or you have a
special Prayer Chair in your house -
just sit there and breathe, relax, and say, maybe with open hands, “Speak Lord,
for your servant is listening.”
Then listen.
Tom Green, the Jesuit, used to say, “Okay God, you got 5
minutes to say something. Then listen.” Then if God says nothing - or nothing
you hear, read a psalm or Bible text or say a prayer, and then say again, “Speak
Lord, I’m listening.”
Or have a journal note book. Put on the top of a blank
page, “January 15, 2018. Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. What are my
dreams for our world, our nation. Then think. Then pray. Then listen.”
LISTENING
Or listen to today’s gospel. Read it. Think it. Pray it.
It talks about fasting for starters.
Maybe I have to see fasting in a new way. Fasting from
talking. Fasting from TV. Fasting from dust. Fasting from laziness. Whatever.
Today’s gospel is about seeing a relationship with God as
a marriage.
Maybe I need to listen better to my spouse. Ask him or
her where they are on playing cards together
- walking together.
That last one. Right now it’s cold. But I heard at
thanksgiving that two of my nieces - maybe more - have started the practice of
taking nice walks with each other in the evening especially - after supper.
They are all in their 50’s. I don’t know if it started with Margie and Jerry.
Margie had cancer last year and she went through serious surgery and chemo or
radiation. Ah - and I assume they realized time be limited. And my nieces all
talk to each other.
CONCLUSION
The title of my homily is, “Prayer as Listening.”
If we listen to that first reading again, we might hear
something that we didn’t hear the first time. I know I didn’t. It’s a question. “Does the Lord so delight in
burnt offerings and sacrifices / as in
obedience to the command of the Lord?”
Then Samuel says, “Obedience is better than sacrifice,
and submission than the fat of rams.”
There’s two hot button words: obedience and
submission. I know a married woman who
writes to her church’s office when a certain reading is coming up from Saint
Paul - that they use the shortened version of Paul’s letter
telling women to be obedient to their husbands.
Well if we realized obedience is listening - and we ought
to be both listening to each other - which can be a great sacrifice and fasting
- then life would be so much sweeter for all - and prayer life better as well.
THE ANSWER
IS
BLOWING
IN THE WIND
In the 60's I was too busy
becoming and then working as a priest -
so I really didn't hear this song.
In my 70's - I'm still too busy
but I'm starting to hear the words
of this song: "Blowing in the wind."
In the 18ths - that is 2018,
I'm getting that the Spirit, the Wind
of God is blowing in our face.
In this year of 2018, I'm feeling
Jesus' words about the Wind:
"the wind blows where it chooses...."
© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018
John 3:8: "The wind blows where
it chooses, and you hear the sound
of it, but you do not know where
it comes from or where it goes. So it
is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."
Sunday, January 14, 2018
WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this Second Sunday in the Year
[B] is, “What Are You Looking For?”
That question is right there - in today’s gospel -
Chapter 1 - the opening Chapter of the Gospel of John.
“What are you looking for?”
Is that the Number 1 life question?
I don’t know. What do you think? Is that the Number 1
question in life for you?
What am I looking
for?
When I was studying
philosophy in the seminary - our professor, Father Joseph Colleran, - Ph. D. in Philosophy - who ended
up doing great work here in Annapolis, working with the poor and the blacks,
put on the blackboard, using white chalk - what he called the world’s shortest
poem:
I
Why?
“Two words” and then he added, “and it rhymes”.
I
Why?
Is that the Number 1 life question?
I don’t know. What do you think?
I’ve thought about that existential poem at different
times - as well as using it in sermons - at various times. And sometimes I add: “I have a poem that I have written. It’s also
two words and the words also rhyme.
You
Who?
Is that the Number 1 life question?
I don’t know. What do you think?
THE WORLD IS A
STORE AND WE ARE THE SHOPPERS
The world is a store,
We walk in. We look around. Maybe we’ll find something
we’re looking for - something to buy.
Sometimes we like it when a salesperson standing there
says, “Can I help you?” Sometimes we just want to browse. Sometimes the salesperson asks, “What are you
looking for?”
The world is Giant. It’s Home Depot. It’s Barnes and
sometimes it’s Noble? It’s a Diner. It’s Sin Fronteras - without borders. It’s
Mexican. It’s Chinese. It’s Italian. It’s French. It’s Sushi and it can be
sloppy. It’s an Amusement park. It’s
Walmart. It’s a mom and pop shop.
What are we looking for?
The church is a place and space people walk into.
Sometimes we like it when a salesperson standing there says, “Can I help you?”
Sometimes we just want to browse.
Sometimes the salesperson asks, “What are you looking for?
This sales person is asking you today, “What are you
looking for when you walked into church today? What are your expectations?”
TODAY
Today and this weekend priests and ministers and
preachers and Rabbis and Imams are wondering - well, of course, not all - but a few I talked to - are
wondering about what to say - if anything - about the other day.
If we say nothing, some will scream. If we say something,
some will scream.
For the sake of transparency - I’m a Democrat. I know the
United States demographics are around 40
something % one party, 40 something % another
party - and independents make up another 10 percent more or less - with an “It all
depends” - all the time.
So if one says anything, you might have 40% glad you said
something and 40% mad at what you said. And priests and preachers have often
been warned of the Bully Pulpit - especially
when others haven’t got a chance to express their word or perspective
back.
I’ve heard someone say in this church of St. John Neumann, “Of course, it’s a mortal
sin to be a Democrat.” I heard that a few years back when they had a mike in
the main aisle - and it was the Q. and
A. period for people to come up and ask questions or make comments about issues
coming up for votes in the ballot box.
For the sake of transparency - I’m a priest - and I’m not
stupid. I don’t want to get in the way of Jesus. 2017
in my opinion was a year of division - and I don’t want another year of
division - especially in church and when we come to church. “Ooooh!”
So I am aware that some people will say, “I didn’t come
to church to hear politics.” Others will
say, “I expected you to say something about what was said the other day.”
Do you have any expectations from the pulpit today?
I also took courses in propaganda and I know that
politicians and public speakers are not trying to change people as much as to
firm up their base.
As priest I would want to firm up Christ’s base and his basic teachings - because I
believe they are for the common good of the human race.
THIS IS WHAT I
WANT TO SAY
So today I’m choosing to say a few things. If something I
say causes uproar, I’ll accept the consequences. If you want to write to the
pope, bishop, pastor or me, go for it.
I also realize that even though someone says something is
from a moral point of view - that doesn’t mean listeners will think it’s being
said from a moral point of view.
I also read the book, Games
People Play, by Eric Bern. There are many games being played. I have to be
very aware of whether I’m playing a game here.
It’s my impression that the game I notice that people
often play is, “Uproar!”
Is that game chosen to deflect people away from something
else?
I don’t know.
What I want to say is the following:
I find it highly immoral to look at another’s country and
call it an “outhouse.” I choose that word because I don’t want to say that
other word.
I find it highly ignorant to make America look worse in
the eyes of the world by insulting Haiti and Africa.
Today’s gospel has Andrew and another disciple of John
watching Jesus walk by and John says, “Behold, the Lamb of God.”
That got Andrew and this other disciple of John to follow
Jesus who turned and said, “What are you looking for?”
They then said to him, “Rabbi, Teacher, where are you
staying?”
And Jesus says, “Come, and you will see.”
And the gospel of John tells us, “They went and saw where
Jesus was staying and they stayed with him that day. It was about four in the
afternoon.”
And Andrew found his brother Simon Peter and said, “We
have found the Messiah - which is translated Christ.”
Then Andrew brought his brother Peter to Jesus.
My name is Andrew.
I like it that Andrew brought his brother to Jesus.
I like it that Andrew tells Peter about whom he found.
This is the one we are looking for.
What are you looking for?
Jesus asks all of us that question.
And hopefully all of us will ask Jesus, “Where are you
staying?”
And Jesus says, “Come, and you will see?”
NEXT
If we come to Jesus, we’ll see him hopefully. Where does
he stay?
For starters, we’ll
find him first in a hut or cave or stable. And you know what is on the
floor of a stable.
In our seminary, for 6 years I took care of horses - 3
horses, Alan, Rusty and Lady - so I know all about stables and the smell of
stables and what to avoid stepping in.
It’s taken down now, but our stable at St. Mary’s and here
at St. John Neumann’s didn’t stink, but the real one did.
And remember what word was used last week in so and so’s comment or supposed
comment about other people’s homes and homeland.
And Andrew in today’s gospel brings people to Jesus.
The gospel of John asks you, “What are you looking for?”
As priest I have figured out that my
“I
Why”
- there’s that
shortest poem again - is to bring people to Jesus.
My
You
Who?
is to ask you - especially in Church, “Who are you and
what are you looking for?”
Today’s first reading from the first book of Samuel is a
wakeup call.
The prophet Samuel says, “When the Lord wakes you up - and
calls you, answer, 'Speak, for your servant is listening.'”
Today’s second reading from First Corinthians has Paul
asking us another question, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the
Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?
For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body.”
I think - just that - would be enough to realize the
respect and beauty that every human being on the planet deserves.
Once more today’s gospel has Andrew bringing people to
Christ - and Christ welcomes people - and then invites people to follow him -
and Jesus then tells us about our within.
What does our within look like?
I use Matthew big time when it comes to this question. I apply
the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew right
here - when Jesus describes his vision of what he was about.[Cf. Matthew 5 to 8
to read the whole Sermon on the Mount.]
I use Paul big time right here. I think this is what Paul
discovered big time and preached big time. [Cf. Galatians 2: 20-21; Romans
8:9; Colossians 3: 16.]
Religion is not for show out there - but holiness within
- wholeness within - and if we have Christ within us we’ll have the answer to
the question from today’s gospel: “What are you looking for?”
Our within is not an enormous mansion, with a golf
course, and with a tower. It’s an inner room - that yes has stink and you know
what on its floor within - and Jesus wants to born in there - and grow in
there.
And this call is for all.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says to us, “Stop being
angry with each other.”
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says stop insulting
your brother, stop calling your brother Raca.
That’s an Aramaic insult. [Cf. Matthew 5: 21-22.]
So all this name calling that has been going on. Stop it.
Stop nick naming people, Little this or Lying that, Low Energy this or Sloppy
that. Boring this or Highly Overrated
that.
Stop it. This is dangerous stuff. It hurts not only the
ears of children - but adults and all of us. I don’t know about you, but I’ve
gone the extra mile on all of this. I’ve turned the other cheek. Now I know I need
to work more on forgiveness with all this stuff.
CONCLUSION
I preached on this at the 7 this morning. I got nervous
when 2 people walked out during the sermon. I hope they were simply going to
the bathroom - but they went out a door to the street. I felt funny when giving
out communion and looking people in the eye. And at the end of Mass in the back
I greeted all. One person said, “I didn’t come to church to hear this political
stuff.” A couple of people said, “Thank you.”
I couldn’t say, “That was not my goal” My goal was to
say, “Come to Jesus and have him ask you, ‘What are you looking for?’”
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